FOR OFFSHORE SAFETY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2023 :: RMTnews 8 RMT has welcomed The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) intervention in response to the serious issues raised by the union following a fatality on the Liberian flagged mobile offshore drilling unit Valaris 121, whilst it was being towed back to Dundee from a site over 100 miles from shore. The tragic disappearance of a worker in the North Sea has highlighted concerns that UK authorities have insufficient powers to regulate the safety of vessels operating in the UK’s offshore oil, gas and renewables industry. While the drilling rig Valaris 121 was sitting on the seabed and attached to an oil and gas well, the ’installation’ was regulated by the HSE’s Energy Division and subject to the Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015. However, once disconnected from the well and off the seabed under tow, the rig became a ‘vessel/ship’ and as such became subject to maritime law. The union has called for government intervention and regulatory changes to ensure that offshore workers are not trapped in this ‘regulatory void’. A working group has been formed by HSE, a government agency responsible for the enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, with the union and employers to look at the specific lessons from this tragic case. RMT national secretary Darren Procter said that the union was continuing to explore ways to strengthen legislative protections for workers in an offshore energy industry which was changing faster than many would care to admit. “Obviously, the pace of that change and the billions of public and private investment it supports risks being compromised by the Prime Minister’s reckless politicking over Net Zero but the fact that there are only four safety inspectors to cover the entire offshore renewables sector is clear evidence of the need to close regulatory loopholes in the safety and employment laws applicable in oil and gas and in offshore wind. “This is of critical importance to the future of North Sea workers and to the safe delivery of new sources of energy, including the 24GW pipeline created by Crown Estate Scotland’s (CES) leasing of rights for 17 offshore wind projects in January last year. “Most of these planned projects are beyond the 12 nautical mile limit and we have got to maximise safety, employment rights and domestic port activity in support of these projects. This would increase offshore and supply chain jobs and maximise the value of the £700 million in leasing fees CES received for these critically important projects. “We are reassured, to an extent, that the HSWA 1974 does apply in some form to the offshore workers, but we need more clarity over the status of project workers and seafarers on mobile units which work in different sectors, sometimes for relative short periods of time. This raises two further issues. Firstly, the practicalities of enforcing and monitoring compliance with different safety regimes up to 200 miles from shore. “Secondly, the need for aligned safety training standards for workers, so they can transfer their skills between sectors to avoid skills shortages and to increase the prospect of a just transition which for us means guarantees over income, employment rights and safety. “Finally, the union is also clear that the menace, in safety terms, of flags of convenience is accentuated by the government’s interpretation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. “As the number of offshore wind projects around the world increases, just when the UK’s early growth is at risk of faltering, there will be a shortage of suitable vessels to carry out drilling, heavy lifting, DUNDEE: Valaris 121 oil rig in Dundee Harbour for refit and maintenance Union warns that workers could be trapped in a ‘regulatory void’ when vessels are disconnected from installations FOR OFFSHORE SAFETY